The Family Business
by Keldae
Summary: One agent, one Jedi, one Sith, and one smuggler, scattered among the stars, become the shaping forces of the galaxy, bound by destiny as much as by blood. Follow the backstory of Clan Taerich before the events of KOTFE and 'Last Hope'. Primarily takes place during Shadow of Revan. With appearances by Theron and Lana, and cameos from the bounty hunter. Slow build Theron/F!Knight.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to the backstory of Clan Taerich, taking place primarily during the Shadow of Revan expansion (with perhaps the odd flashback to vanilla SWTOR or the pre-story to that). I'll finish Last Hope and Outtakes from Odessen eventually... but this got in my head and refused to leave.**

 **Inspired by ohlawson's "Recompense", which is a fantastic read and you all should check it out. No infringement intended!**

 **If I owned Star Wars/BioWare, do you think I'd be writing fanfiction?**

* * *

When one came down to it, the idea of launching a strike assault on Korriban's Sith Academy wasn't all that complicated on a datapad. The coordinates were set, the weaknesses identified, and the objective marked. Colonel Darok already had a strike force ready to deploy as soon as he and Agent Theron Shan could agree on was a leader for the team's ground forces.

"Major Darren Kota, Havoc Squad." Darok rubbed at his chin contemplatively as the named soldier's holo-image rotated before him from the projector. "Hell of a good commander. I've got him for the initial clearing strike, but would like him on the team targeting the Dark Council chambers."

"This guy's not known for restraint where the Imps are concerned. We need that Academy data intact, you said- he'll bomb the planet from orbit first and destroy any intel before we get our hands on it." Theron shook his head. "Pity Aric Jorgan's not the CO of that unit, he's better at keeping a cool head around Imps." But far be it from Theron to question the military decisions of General Garza… or his father (well, aside from that whole incident with the _Ascendant Spear_ , but that was beside the point).

"Hmmph. What about the Barsen'thor… what's his name, Serral something-or-rather?"

"Reikart, and I'd say no. The guy's an archivist and a healer. He'll spend more of his time trying to personally 'cleanse the minds' of every Sith he meets on Korriban than doing the job itself." Theron rolled his eyes. "Jedi, right?"

Darok snorted. "I don't suppose you've got any decent ideas yourself, Shan."

"One so far." Theron tapped a button on his datapad, producing a new face. "Captain Korin, a Republic privateer. He's the guy who went up against the Voidwolf and lived to tell the tale. I hear he's the guy who's kept the entire criminal underworld from uniting under Imperial rule."

"A spacer?" Darok frowned. "I don't know I like the idea of having some lawless smuggler leading a Republic op."

"Maybe not. Our intel indicates that he's got enough of a hate-on for the Empire that he'll throw his lot in with anyone fighting them, and right now that's us. He's already taken out a few traitors to the Republic, too- might not be a patriot, but I'm sure we can persuade him to fight with us." Theron shrugged. "Besides, looking at his record, he's a hell of a quick shot and a pilot, and knows how to sneak around. Might be handy to have."

"Hmmmph." Darok eyed Captain Korin's face for a bit longer. "He fought at Corellia, didn't he?"

"Yeah. Made something of a name for himself there- y'know, after being the guy to find Nok Drayen's fortune and all. He was on Rogun the Butcher's hit list for years, and survived."

"... Might not be bad. I got one more suggestion for you first." The smuggler's face disappeared, replaced with that of a human woman. "Jedi Master Xaja Taerich, if we can get hold of her. Pity she's not around Carrick Station too often."

Theron shrugged as he eyed the Jedi's face. He didn't have anything against the Jedi, considering he'd been raised by them, but he wasn't that fond of most of the Order as it was, his mother being a significant reason as to the 'why'. Anyone else might have said he had long-standing mom issues. "Isn't she the one who went after the Emperor directly?"

"After being one of the Jedi taken captive and resisting a Sith brainwashing attempt, which is more than what can be said for the rest of her initial team. Anyone who can infiltrate Kaas City would be an advantage for us on Korriban. She might want a shot at taking out the Academy herself, finish the job she started on Dromund Kaas."

There was a long pause before Theron shrugged again. "Still would rather have Captain Korin, but I'll get feelers out for both of them. Have a contingency plan in case both of them are playing 'let's not answer the comm' today?"

Darok frowned. "I'll get Havoc on standby for the second wave of the assault. Hopefully Kota won't be as much of a liability as you think."

* * *

"No, I don't like the idea of sending one of the Dark Council on this expedition." Darth Arkous frowned, the ridges of his face shifting with the movement. "Darth Imperius in particular is too scholarly for this sort of endeavour."

"He is the one who fought Darth Thanaton all the way to the Dark Council chamber itself, as you recall, and won. I believe that says enough for his combat prowess." Lana Beniko looked to her master as she tapped on her datapad. Most comparatively-low-ranked advisors would need to be far more subservient to their overseers- Lana supposed she was grateful that Arkous had a higher focus on the task ahead than the traditions of rank and titles and proper submission. She was a Lord in her own right, after all- no need to pander like an Acolyte. "Besides, he's far more balanced and stable than Darth Nox is…"

Arkous scowled ferociously at the mention of the Sith assassin. There was bad blood there, apparently. "Imperius is still more likely to find the Jedi library and barricade himself in there until he'd satisfied that thirst for knowledge he seems to have. What of Darth Maglion?"

"The Wrath? If you can find him, he'll still be likely to destroy everyone and everything within the Jedi Temple- our own forces included, and the intel we're trying to get!" Lana shook her head. "He'll want to press on to Coruscant and eradicate every single Jedi and their supporters if he gets that deep into Republic Space. He'd just have better odds than Darth Nox at surviving."

"Although getting rid of the Jedi like this is tempting…" Arkous mused.

"Tempting, yes- but too costly and will take too much time. Imperius is better at staying within boundaries in the name of efficiency, and knows to restrain himself around valuable data."

Arkous frowned as he paced back and forth through the planning room. "... Fine, Darth Imperius. Have you a backup plan should he think too fondly of his texts and artifacts to leave them behind?"

"Yes, my lord. The Champion of the Great Hunt, Shara Verhayc, could be an asset. She's killed Jedi before, and their last Supreme Chancellor. It's not like this would be unfamiliar territory for her."

"Yes, the Mandalorian. Hmmm. She might be useful. But what of this man?" Arkous tapped a command into the holoprojector. "Cipher 9's infiltrated the Republic before. He might be able to get our forces past the Republic security protocols around Tython."

"Cipher 9? He is a good asset, but a little on the older side, is he not?" Lana frowned critically at the slowly rotating image of the spy's face. "What was his original name- Reanden Taerich, I believe?"

"With age comes experience, Beniko. Agent Taerich knows the value of hitting hard and fast where it hurts the most. And anyone still doing his job at his age is good enough for me."

Lana studied the spy for a moment, then shrugged. "If we cannot get Verhayc on the team, Agent Taerich may be a good fit. At the least, he and Darth Imperius together cannot be as difficult to work with as Darth Nox on her own."

Arkous glared at the space before him. "I would sooner work with a Republic dog than Nox."

"Of course, my lord."

* * *

Well, this was shaping up to be Theron's day. Both Captain Korin and Master Taerich had been on board Carrick Station within two hours of the plans being made, by their own designs, and seemed intrigued over the holo by the idea. The spacer sauntered into the briefing room first, dark blond hair in a purposefully-messy style that almost put Theron's hair to shame, hands tucked into the pockets of his leather jacket, habitually within easy grabbing range of both blasters on his hips. "Afternoon, gents," he said with a lazy salute as he picked a portion of the wall to lean against. "Gotta admit, most of the time when I'm talkin' to Republic military folks, it's over a table in a really cold room with me wearin' binder cuffs…"

Darok gave Theron a look, as though to ask ' _Are you out of your damn mind?_ '. Theron just shrugged back at the taller man, then looked to the captain. "Well, if you really want, we can switch the briefing to a suitable room for-"

"Naaah, we're good." The spacer gave Theron a cocky grin. "What's this fancy-lookin' planning business, anyway?"

"I'd rather not explain it more than once," Theron said. "We're just waiting on the last member of the team to show up and-"

The door slid open, and a tiny redhaired woman in brown robes entered the room, wide eyes looking around. If Theron hadn't already been studying the dossiers of both strike team recruits beforehand, he would have called this woman a Padawan and then proceeded to kick her out of the briefing- but no Jedi Padawan had eyes that looked that old, or a young-looking face that seemed so fatigued already. She couldn't have been older than her late twenties, and the smuggler looked even younger. Theron himself was only a month away from turning thirty-two, but confronted with one of the youngest Masters of the Order, felt way older. "And I think that last person just arrived. Master Taerich, Captain Korin, I'm Theron Shan with the Republic SIS- I spoke to both of you over the holo. This is Colonel Darok, Republic Armed Forces." He almost missed Captain Korin visibly starting when he heard the Jedi's name, as though startled.

"Good to meet you in person." Master Taerich had a soft, almost-musical quality to her voice that Theron could pick up easier in person than over the holo. "What's this event you mentioned?"

Colonel Darok had saluted to the Jedi Master when she'd walked in, and now turned his attention back to the holoprojector. "We," he said with a note of gleeful anticipation in his voice, "are going to launch a strike assault on the Sith Academy."

"Korriban?!" Master Taerich's eyes widened in surprise. "When did we gain the military strength to attack the Sith homeworld?"

Theron glanced to Captain Korin, trying to gauge the smuggler's reaction to the news. But it looked like the spacer hadn't heard Darok at all- he was frozen, staring at Master Taerich like he'd seen a ghost. Definitely not the normal spacer way of eyeballing a pretty lady, Jedi or otherwise. _Does he know her already? Maybe she's got a sister he's met or something._ The Jedi seemed to be ignoring or unaware of the smuggler's stare.

"We normally wouldn't be able to pull an op like this," Darok confessed. "But we've identified a weakness in the planetary defences- now's the best time to exploit it before it's sealed up."

Master Taerich nodded slowly. "Reasonable. What's our objective?"

Straightforward and to the point. Much like most of the other Jedi Theron had ever met, his mother included. "We're not going to be able to launch a full-scale conquering of the entire system- we don't have the resources for that. But we do have enough to grab intel from the Dark Council chambers, maybe whatever Sith relics you can find. Figured you'd be the most knowledgeable about that, Master Taerich."

"Sith artifacts aren't my specialty, Agent Shan, but I'm sure I can improvise." The Jedi gave Theron a studious look, and for an uncomfortable moment the spy wondered if she had made the mental connection between his name and the name of the Grand Master. "If nothing else, taking them from the Academy should hurt the Sith almost as much as any intel we take."

Theron nodded. "Exactly."

Captain Korin seemed to have drawn himself out of his daze, and was now listening with a raised eyebrow. "So while there's a Jedi in on this for dealin' with the cranky ones with the lightsabers and their shiny objects, what am I doing?"

"The Jedi in question needs someone watching her back," Theron answered. "Preferably someone who can take out the grouchy lightsaber-wielding ones at a distance. I hear you're a pretty decent slicer, too." Not half as good as Theron himself, of course. If Theron met a _smuggler_ who was a better slicing hand than he was, he'd eat his favourite red jacket.

Korin shrugged with perfectly faked modesty. "I got bored an' learned how."

"Well, if you fight like you talk, the op'll be in good hands," Darok spoke up. "Any questions from you two?"

"Is there anything in particular we're looking for?" Master Taerich asked. "And when do we leave?"

"For the second question, your shuttle's prepped now and waiting in the hangar down the hall- and I've got another Jedi tasked with longer term data extraction. Maybe you know him- Jensyn."

Master Taerich nodded. "I know him. We'll head out now."

"Good luck," Theron said as Jedi and smuggler turned to leave the briefing room- one composed and serene, one still pale and shaken, and trying to pretend he wasn't. "May the Force be with you." He set back to tracking the troop movements en route to Korriban, and lasted all of five minutes before looking up and at Darok's contemplative smirk. "What?"

"She's cute," Darok said with a grin. "Wonder how attached she is to that Code of hers…"

"You, sir, are the creepiest man I've ever met, and I've got Sith on my kills list," Theron growled.

"Not for me, Shan!" Darok shook his head emphatically. "The girl's young enough to be my daughter. I was thinking for you- she looks like she's around your age, maybe a little younger."

"Yeah, and you missed the part where she's Jedi." Theron rolled his eyes and went back to the display he was studying. "No way in hell am I getting involved with one of them."

"You need to get laid. Or are you this much of a grump normally when dealing with pretty Jedi girls?" Darok paused and grinned. "Or just jealous of that spacer she's gonna be spending time with?"

Theron scowled at Korriban's blue holo-form. "I've got better things to focus on than the odds of me- or _you_ \- getting with a Jedi woman."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll just plan on settin' you up with her after this op is done."

"Not interested, Colonel."

"... Ohhh, you swing the captain's way instead? Don't worry, I don't judge."

Theron turned away from Darok's grin with a glare and a renewed focus on his work. Darok could try his best to muddle with Theron's non-existent romantic life (which he did _not_ need help with, thank you very much!), but the spy had work to focus on. He was a workaholic for a reason, dammit. That was about the only thing he had in common with most Jedi, and it wasn't likely to change.

* * *

As it turned out, Shara Verhayc held her priorities in a slightly different order than most of the Empire's citizens, and Lana found that out the hard way over the holo. "Sorry, _dar'jetii_ , but Mand'alor's scarier than you are," the bounty hunter said, brushing a lock of brown hair out of her face. "And he's got me an' my crew elsewhere at the mo'."

"This is important," Lana insisted. "For the sake of the Empire-"

"The clans come first." Verhayc shook her head and grinned. "Good luck though." The Mandalorian's blue form winked out of existence, leaving Lana to grit her teeth in frustration.

"It's fortunate that Agent Taerich is already confirmed to be on Vaiken and knows his place with the Dark Council," Darth Arkous dryly commented as his advisor turned away from the holoterminal. "Any news on the Wrath?"

"Unavailable," Lana lied smoothly. No point in Arkous not knowing she hadn't bothered trying to get in contact with the Wrath. There was a limit as to how many psychopaths she had the tolerance for in a day, and one who had all the rage of the Emperor exceeded that limit. "However, Darth Imperius is en route to our location and should be here momentarily."

Arkous frowned. "Hmm. That scholar decided he found something more intriguing than ancient tomes?"

" _That scholar_ ," spoke a third voice, "is right here and can hear you perfectly fine." The dark-clad Darth Imperius strode in, all six feet of lanky build and a voice distorted by the mask on his face. Lana had always thought the newest induction to the Dark Council was far younger than he carried himself, but he never took that mask off- if rumours were to believed, the mask of the ancient Lord Kallig himself. Nobody was quite sure who he was, as he'd abandoned his birth name after killing Darth Zash and usurping her place. The only one who could have identified him outside of his Sith title, an instructor from Korriban named Harkun, had been found dead not long after Imperius had ascended to the Dark Council, to the rejoicing of many a Sith who had suffered under his tutelage. It was suspicious, but the academic Sith was nothing if not thorough in hiding his trail, and was currently fixing Arkous with a gaze that, if his body language was any indication, hinted that he was quite displeased.

"... My apologies," Arkous finally said, inclining his head minutely to the other Dark Lord. "It's good to have you join us."

"I'm sure," Imperius said flatly. "Is there anyone else involved with this mission that your associate did not wish to share details of over the holo?"

"One other," Lana spoke up, looking to the door as another man strode in. For being the only Force-blind person in a room full of Sith, Agent Reanden Taerich didn't seem to be overly concerned with his safety, and only offered polite nods to everyone else in the room. Lana supposed that the man who'd been responsible for the demise of Darth Jadus wouldn't be too worried by other Sith. "Darth Imperius of the Dark Council, Agent Taerich, one-time Cipher 9 from Imperial Intelligence."

"I am Darth Arkous," the other Dark Councillor introduced himself, "and my associate who contacted you is Lana Beniko. You do not require further introductions?"

"We've met," Imperius said, returning the nod back to Taerich. Lana wasn't certain, but she thought she sensed something through the Force from the other Sith, something that hinted the other was… pleased with Agent Taerich's presence.

"My lord," Taerich quietly said in acknowledgement of Imperius' statement, then looked at Lana and Arkous. "What's this about?"

"We're preparing for a strike assault on the Jedi Temple on Tython," Lana said without preamble.

Darth Imperius gave no visible reaction, aside from perhaps a slight tensing of his frame. Agent Taerich merely blinked. "The Jedi Temple? That's no small feat. How lax have the Jedi become in their planetary defences?"

"Not enough to properly raze the planet to its core," Arkous said (and he did sound quite regretful about that fact), "but enough to send the Republic reeling and the Jedi scurrying. There's been a lapse in the planetary security that we're exploiting before the Republic Navy realizes it. We're striking for any intel held within the Jedi Council chambers, or any relics that might be of use to us that the Order is hoarding."

Imperius did seem intrigued by the prospect of stealing Jedi relics. "How long do we have before this hole in the defences closes?"

"It's uncertain," Lana answered, "which is why we're striking now. The first wave of the assault will be arriving shortly- your shuttle is prepared for departure within the next half hour."

Taerich raised an eyebrow. "That was fast," he idly commented.

"We are nothing if not efficient, Agent Taerich." Lana offered a small smile that indicated she could probably take the credit for the op's efficiency. "Any questions?"

Imperius and Taerich looked at each other for a moment- then the Sith shrugged. "None. We will contact you when we've reached Tython."

 _That was easier than expected,_ Lana silently mused as she inclined her head to both strike team leaders. "May the Force serve you well out there." She watched both Sith and agent leave the room, and saw them enter their shuttle through the security cameras before the vessel lifted off with the rest of the second strike force.

She never saw Darth Imperius pull Agent Taerich into a private area of the shuttle and remove his mask to reveal a very young face (only in his early twenties), long brown hair, and a pair of brown eyes, now wide and worried-looking. "Dad…"

She also never saw Reanden Taerich grip his son's shoulder tightly, only now showing the fear that had closed around his heart when he learned of the mission objective. "Better start praying she's not there, son."

* * *

 **Clan Taerich (Xaja, Korin, Sorand, Reanden) are my own OC's. Shara Verhayc and Darren Kota are two of my friends' OC's who are important to my own characters. And anyone you recognize from SWTOR obviously isn't mine.**

 **There will eventually be proper explanation as to how the assorted Taerichs are related and know they're related in future chapters, maybe the odd oneshot that I'll throw into Outtakes from Odessen. Hang onto your questions about that for the time being, and all shall be made known in time, I promise (unless I forget).**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Still ain't mine. But if someone finds a way to get Theron Shan out of my computer and into my room… (then you'll probably never get updates on this again, because I'll either be indulging all the fangirl urges or will have died of shock.)**

* * *

The shuttle jolted as it took off from Carrick Station, joining the convoy of other military vehicles bound for Korriban. Master Xaja Taerich stood at the front of the shuttle, beside the smuggler captain who'd been assigned to lead the team with her and guard her back. Having a rogue spacer on a military endeavour was odd enough, or so the Jedi thought- but one staring at her without even pretending to be subtle was worse. It wasn't even like it was a lustful look either- Captain Korin looked like he was looking at a phantom.

 _Well, we've got time._ Xaja stepped back as the shuttle leapt to hyperspace, gesturing with one slim hand. "Come, Captain. We'd best get to know each other before we're in the middle of a fight."

The spacer started, then mumbled something that sounded like "Yes, Master Jedi" as he followed her into a slightly more private area of the shuttle. To Xaja's eyes and senses, the spacer's wariness, fear even, felt… foreign. He felt more like the type of person to be making wisecracks at every conceivable opportunity and not stepping on metaphorical eggshells around her.

"Does the idea of talking to a Jedi in private so scare you?" she asked as she closed the door behind them, sealing them in the planning room of the shuttle.

"Not normally," the smuggler confessed as he took a seat on a table, and not on the perfectly good chair beside it.

"And yet today is different? Are you carrying some new contraband you're afraid I'll find?"

"It's not that, Jedi."

"Then what? Out with it." Xaja leaned against the wall of the shuttle and crossed her arms over her slim frame. "Your unease is distracting."

Captain Korin seemed to be waging a war with himself before he spoke. "Where's your homeworld?"

"My- what?"

"Humour me."

Xaja frowned. "... Lavisar, I think?"

Korin's face drained paler. "When were you born?"

"Seven years before the Sacking."

"Who were your parents?"

"... What does this have to do with anything?!"

Korin sighed and hesitated for a moment. "When I was five," he finally said, "I saw the holonet reports of the Sacking and Coruscant's fall. I grew up on the Imp side of neutral territory, it was supposed to be a celebration day. All I remember is hearing my mother screaming, and Dad pulling me aside to tell me that I'd had a big sister once upon a time, but she was now dead with the rest of the Jedi. I didn't find out until around two years ago that my sister had survived, and..."

"... And you think I'm your long-lost sister?" Xaja frowned. "There were a lot of Jedi Younglings in the Order, and a lot in the Temple when it- when it fell…" Twenty years later and the memories still hurt to talk about.

"And how many of them look like my mother walking around again, just younger? How many of them have what my father said was my birth sister's first name? How many of them share my surname?"

Xaja blinked. "Your last name-"

"I don't use it much, if ever, wouldn't surprise me if that SIS agent back there didn't know it. I was born Korin Taerich, in Syward, capital of the Lavisarian system, the son of Reanden Taerich and Aerdna Drallig."

"... Aerdna Drallig was a Jedi Knight," Xaja finally breathed out as she sat down hard in a chair, eyes widening as she started to grasp the implications of what this spacer was telling her. "Her last in person contact with the Order was surrendering me to another Master as a baby. She was killed on a long-term deep cover assignment in neutral space almost thirteen years ago."

"Killed tryin' to defend my- _our_ little brother from the raiders who attacked our home. I- she told me to run, and I managed to stow away on a ship bound for the Core. She and Sorand…" Korin's shoulders slumped at the memory of his presumably-dead mother and little brother, then he looked up at Xaja and weakly smiled. "... You look just like Mum, you know."

Xaja raked her hands through her long red hair. "Holy frack, I have brothers… I don't know what to think!"

"Yeah, I guess it'd be a bit of a-" Korin paused. "... the hell did you say 'brothers' for? Our little brother's dead, died same time as Mum did."

Xaja stared at her newfound brother for a moment, memories racing through her mind. Corellia, her twin blue 'sabers clashing against a Sith Lord's red blade… her hood falling back from her face, and the Sith stopping dead in his tracks, shock radiating off him through the Force… a fearsome mask slowly removed, and brown eyes that reminded her awfully of this spacer's staring at her as he revealed their shared surname… "Then we have another brother out there somewhere. I met Sorand Taerich on Corellia two years ago and-"

Korin lunged forward to grab Xaja's shoulders in a vicegrip, hazel eyes wide with shock. "He's alive?!"

* * *

The shuttle shook as the sublight engines kicked up, dropping out of hyperspace over the Tythan system. The man known to most of the Empire as Darth Imperius stared out of the small window as the target planet, a beautiful green-blue orb, appeared in the void of space. "You think she's there?" he quietly asked the older man beside him, turning to look at him, showing a rare moment of vulnerability and fear. Without Lord Kallig's ancient mask obscuring his face and his identity, Darth Imperius was replaced by Sorand Taerich- a nobleborn, taken in a raid and forced into slavery as a child, only returning to privilege after being identified as Force-sensitive and surviving the gauntlet known as Korriban's Academy.

Reanden Taerich was one of the only people Sorand showed his face to. Most Dark Lords of the Sith didn't associate with their parents closely, assuming they hadn't already killed said parents themselves- Sorand was an anomaly in that he not only had his father alive, but treated him as a close confidant. "If she is," the older agent quietly said, "our mission parameters just changed. Priority will be in keeping her alive and getting her off-world in something other than a prison shuttle. Do you think she still remembers what you look like?"

Sorand thought back to the Jedi Knight he'd met on Corellia two years ago. She'd been an even match for him in combat, and if he hadn't seen her face and almost mistaken her for an apparition of his mother, he probably would have fought her to the death. She almost hadn't believed him when he'd revealed his birth name and homeworld, until he'd put away his lightsaber instead of continuing the fight and told her to hide when he'd sensed Imperial forces converging on their location. That had been the first day he'd betrayed the Sith Order by refusing to divulge the identity of a Jedi Knight in his family- his sister!- and he'd repeated that treason every day since. "... Maybe? At the least, she won't forget the mask."

"That's something," Reanden agreed.

"Does she know you at all, Dad?"

Reanden frowned in thought. "The only time I met her as an adult, she was still fighting the Emperor out of her head and making her escape from Imperial Space with Lord Scourge at the time of his defection to the Republic. I don't think she was focusing on my face enough to be able to remember me- and it's hard to say if she caught what I implied about my identity while I was helping her escape her cell. No, assume she won't recognize me if she's there."

"So I'm guarding your back against what might be my very vengeful older sister when she realizes we're the commanders of the strike team destroying her home." Sorand sighed, idly turning the mask over in his hands and staring into the black eyeholes. "... This is supposed to be what the Empire's all about, what I'm supposed to be gleeful over as one of the Dark Council. Why does this feel so… wrong?"

"You've never been enough of a Dark Side adherent to be a true Sith, son." Reanden squeezed his son's shoulder. "If your mother had gotten her way, you would have been raised by the Jedi with your sister… you'd have never set foot on Korriban."

"Anyone else besides you saying that and I'd be offended."

"Listen, kiddo, the Gizka Incident is still strong in my memory. You've too soft a heart under those layers of black fabric and old masks to be as merciless as you pretend you are."

Sorand groaned. "Am I ever going to live down that gizka incident?"

"Nope."

The Sith gave his father a half-hearted scowl, then looked back out the window. "... You said Korin's still alive? Would he be down there?"

"I ran into him on Corellia, probably around the same time you and Xaja were meeting for the first time. He's no Jedi- he never had the same strength in the Force as you or your sister." Reanden reached around to do a weapons check, and ensure he had enough med packs on him, as the ship broke Tython's atmosphere. "He'd have no reason to be on Tython."

"I hope you're right," Sorand quietly said as he replaced the mask on his face, preparing to go to battle surrounded by people whom he didn't dare let his face be shown to. "It's bad enough risking one sibling's life with this damned op as it is." Five years ago he would have been quite excited at the idea of razing the Jedi Temple to the ground… but two years ago he'd found his Jedi sister alive, and knew she considered the Temple to be home. Sure, he'd been terrible at keeping in contact with her since Corellia, mostly because he didn't want to risk being connected to a Jedi (for his sake as well as her own), but that didn't mean he wanted to bring harm to her or her people. And his father had been an SIS operative for years, another treasonous detail Sorand had always neglected to ever mention to anyone else for the sake of keeping one parent alive.

But there was no way out of this operation without arousing Darth Arkous' ire. _Maybe this way we can keep Xaja alive if she's down there…_

* * *

"I do not care what your mission priorities are, Major," Xaja snapped at the two soldiers in front of her. Most of her ire was directed to Havoc Squad's commanding officer, Darren Kota- and there was apparently some unpleasant history there making her temper short. Well, short for a Jedi. The Zabrak beside her, whose name Korin had forgotten, had made the wise call to just stand still and not argue against the flame-haired Jedi. "We are not leaving these slaves to die here!"

"We're on a time limit before the Empire regroups," Kota retorted. "I don't want to leave them here, but they're going to slow us down."

"Then I suggest you start moving sooner." Xaja reached out a hand and deactivated the control panel for the Force-cage containing over a dozen slaves, a solid half of whom were aliens who looked like they'd seen better days outside of Sith clutches. "If they fall behind, so do you."

Korin winced to himself as he surveyed the entrance to the Academy compound. Xaja had a temper to rival what he could remember of his mother's. _She would have made one hell of a Sith,_ he inwardly mused as the Jedi returned to his side. "All sorted?"

Xaja tersely nodded. "One squad's being deployed to get the slaves back to our shuttles. Havoc's coming up behind us as reinforcement."

"Sounds good." Korin twirled both blasters in his hands as he looked around. "Bunch of the local wildlife just below us- and no, I don't mean Sith, unless the Dark Side starts turnin' people into giant toothy worm things. They've got an energy gate protectin' the entrance to the Temple itself, an' what looks like some giant-ass droid in front of it."

"Not impossible, then." Xaja swiped a lock of long hair that had come loose from her nerftail out of her face, leaving a fine smear of dust and grime across her forehead. "You doing okay?" she added, giving her newly-discovered brother a concerned look.

"I'm not dealin' with cranky 'saber jockeys up close an' personal like you are. I'm fine." Korin offered his sister (his _sister_. That was a weird concept to think about, but he was already finding that he liked it.) a grin before looking back to the looming Academy. "You think he's in there?"

Xaja frowned worriedly. "For his sake… I hope not. He might be a Sith, but he's just a kid."

"Sorand deserved better than this dustball," Korin muttered as he jumped down a ledge to the valley floor. The k'lor slugs before him were agitated, and he wouldn't have been surprised to learn they favoured pistol-toting Force-sensitive humans as their favourite meal. "Let's go make sure he's nice and somewhere safe offworld."

"Like what, Dromund Kaas?" Xaja shook her head and jumped down after her brother. The slugs turned, apparently drawn by her much-brighter Force-presence, and started converging on their location.

Korin raised both blasters and started firing on the descending monsters as Xaja's lightsabers ignited beside him. "Anywhere other than here."

* * *

"This place must have been beautiful once," Sorand muttered as he stalked into the ruined atrium of the Jedi Temple, eyeing the destroyed holocron-shaped artifact between the two staircases leading to the upper level. With the mask back on, he'd reverted back to his Darth Imperius persona, although Reanden was still familiar enough with his son's body language to identify regret at the destruction caused by their forces. "I can't blame the Jedi for defending this place so well."

Reanden nodded in agreement as he gingerly turned over a slight, feminine body in brown robes, killed by blaster-fire from the looks of it. _Not her,_ he confirmed when he saw the tangled brown hair and freckles scattered across her nose, and let the dead Jedi go. "Sense anything?"

Sorand looked up. "A couple of stronger Jedi on the upper levels, Masters by the feel of it. There's more on this level or the sublevels too, but most of them feel like-" He hesitated. "... like kids. Padawans."

"Blast it." Reanden scowled as he looked around. "The Jedi recruit way younger than the Sith do. Should have thought the Order would have children here."

"We can't kill them," Sorand muttered. "I'm not killing children, and Arkous can go kriff a rancor if he doesn't like it."

 _You're still only a kid yourself, even if you're twenty-three and on the Dark Council._ Reanden wasn't going to say that out loud though. "Let's just find that intel and get out of here before one of those Padawans decides to be stupidly heroic and push the matter."

They made it halfway to the ascending staircase before two teenagers lunged at the pair from the shadows, green lightsabers blazing in the darkness. One was a Zabrak, the other a Mirialan, and both of them fought in the same ferocious manner that only a cornered animal or a scared warrior-in-training could. "You'll go no further, Sith!" the Mirialan girl shouted as her lightsaber clashed against Sorand's red blade, brought up defensively. Her voice trembled with fear, but she was still resolved enough to cross weapons with a Darth- _impressive_ , Reanden thought, as he dodged and rolled out of the way of the Zabrak's attack.

"You're just a child, Jedi," Sorand parried the blow and struck back, sending the Jedi stumbling with a grunt. "Shouldn't you be hiding behind your masters?"

"Yeah, except you killed them all!"

"Careful, young one. Doesn't your Code forbid the anger that I sense radiating from you?" Sorand taunted as he struck again at the Jedi's legs, putting her on the defensive.

"Don't talk to us about our Code that you do not understand," snapped the Zabrak boy as he went for a powerful overhand blow that, if Reanden hadn't dodged at the last second, would have done the agent severe damage. As it was, the stone pillar that caught the blow now featured a new gash through the stone.

"Of course not, kid. Now stand down before we have to kill you too," Reanden shouted back as he fired a warning shot at the teenager. He'd killed Sith before, and had the ongoing dangerous task of keeping another one at bay. Two Padawans would be nothing.

"There is no death," the Zabrak snarled. "Only the Force."

Reanden sighed. "Suit yourself." He activated his stealth generator, startling the Zabrak into dropping his guard for a second- long enough to get in close and stab him in the torso with a paralysis dart at close range. The kid grunted in pain at the hit, then collapsed in a heap.

The Mirialan gave a cry of despair at seeing her companion fall, her guard slipping long enough for Sorand to raise a hand and give her a brief shock of Force lightning, enough to send her into a twitching pile of Jedi-robe-clad limbs on the floor. "I'm reasonably sure I was never this blasted stupid as an apprentice," the Sith muttered as he lowered his lightsaber. "Do all the great Jedi Masters start out like this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Reanden paused, eyeing the door that the two Padawans had come out of. It had closed behind the teenagers, but straining his ears with their cybernetic implants let him pick up muffled noises behind the durasteel plating. Eight seconds of slicing into the control panel later and the door slid open, revealing half a dozen frightened children in Jedi tunics in the shadows. The oldest of them, still a couple of years younger than the well-intentioned (yet not terribly bright) pair of Padawans, carried training blades; the youngest couldn't have been more than eight years old. Reanden sighed heavily, guilt and remorse already settling into his chest. "Please tell me you're smarter than the two that just tried to kill me and my companion."

The oldest of the children raised his training blade defensively as Reanden took a step inside. "They were trying to protect us now that the Masters are dead!" he cried. "Please… they're just kids." He glanced down at the children he was trying to protect, then back at Reanden as Sorand approached behind him. "We're not a threat, we can't fight you. We're just kids and you've killed our Masters." The last sentence was uttered in the softest, most heart-wrenching whisper that a Jedi child could muster, enough to make Reanden feel sick.

The agent turned his head to look at Sorand, giving his son an anxious frown. "My lord," he quietly said, aware of the Jedi children listening attentively to every word spoken, "they aren't a threat to us, even if they are Jedi students. I don't believe them to be worth the effort of killing them." His eyes sought out any hint of his son's gaze through the damned mask, trying to convey his desperation to not kill these children. _Don't make me kill them,_ he mouthed. _I can't do it._

Sorand shifted uncomfortably, then extended a hand behind him, lifting both of the attacking Padawans with an effortless use of the Force- the Zabrak still unconscious, the Mirialan groaning and unable to fight. "I recommend you stay still and quiet until we've departed if you want to survive this," he said in a monotone as he deposited both Padawans in the storage room the other children were hiding in. "The next Sith to come by will not be as merciful as we are."

The older children descended on the downed teenagers to pull them the rest of the way to relative safety as Reanden closed the door on them again, being sure to securely lock it from the outside. "If there's a lick of intelligence among any of them," he quietly said, "they'll keep quiet and not draw attention until Jedi reinforcements arrive."

"Any idea how long that'll be?" Sorand quietly asked as he started up the staircase to the second level.

"For their sake, I hope soon… but not so soon that we don't get out of here first." Reanden frowned as he followed Sorand up the stairs. "The Republic's not going to care that we spared a few children in light of every other Jedi or Republic soldier we've killed so far."

"Or the fact that we're going to have to kill another Master," Sorand sighed as he approached the Jedi Archives chamber, being greeted with a very displeased-looking Nautolan Jedi. "The next time Arkous comes up with something like this, he can go do the damned job himself."

* * *

The Pureblood Sith Lord (Darth Soverus, as identified by Imperial records) was dead, brought down by a combination of Xaja's blade mastery and Korin shooting from his cover points around the destroyed Dark Council chamber, and finally killed by Commander Jensyn. With the other human Jedi beginning his search for the data the SIS was looking for, Xaja was walking through the chamber and the hallways surrounding it, looking for a particular body. Korin stayed still, watching his sister with his heart in his throat until Xaja finally stood up to her full five-foot-nothing height and shook her head. "He's not here. I didn't see him anywhere else in the Academy either."

"Then I guess he was offworld," Korin said, relief in his voice at the knowledge that his little brother's body wasn't on Korriban. "And Dad's Force-blind. He wouldn't be here either." He holstered his blasters as he gave the chamber a final, cursory look. "Anything else you wanna do in here?"

"Burn the place off the face of the planet," Xaja deadpanned. "In seriousness, a lot of the relics the Sith have here were damaged in the initial strike. I've got a few troopers and Jedi dispatched to bring what we can salvage back to the shuttles."

"The shuttles that we're gonna be makin' our way to soon so we can get off this rock?" Korin asked hopefully. He wasn't as strong in the Force as his sister, but Korriban's darkness was a persistent itch under his skin that he couldn't get rid of. He didn't want to imagine what Xaja was feeling.

"The very same." Xaja gave Korin a lopsided, small smirk as she started walking to the turbolift. "I want to make sure those slaves and defecting Acolytes made it to the transports too, or I'll be giving Major Kota an earful."

"Is there some sorta history back there with you an' him, or…?" Korin's question trailed off at the glare he got in return. He coughed. "Right. You've never met the guy before, and he's just some gizka-brained nerfherder. Got it."

"That's right." Xaja nodded sagely. "And don't you forget it, little brother."

"You know I'm almost a foot taller than you, right?"

"You yourself said I'm older than you, so hush."

* * *

"Lord Goh is going through the Jedi Council chambers for that data," Sorand said to the holoterminal's projection of Arkous' face. Lana stood beside the Pureblood Sith, typing into a datapad. "Whatever he's looking for, he shouldn't have any problems finding it." Unless the near-mute Sith was looking for one of the small curious-looking Jedi holocrons that Sorand had stowed away for his own personal study… but no need to let Arkous know that.

"No living problems, anyway," Reanden muttered as he slowly nursed a bottle of water, dust and sweat still coating his face and clothing liberally.

Arkous chuckled. "Excellent news! This blow will send the Republic reeling like it hasn't since the Sacking of Coruscant. The Jedi Order will be years in recovering from a blow of this magnitude! I must admit I had my concerns about your involvement, Imperius, but you've happily proven me wrong about you."

"I'm trying very hard to not be offended, Arkous," Sorand growled out, using the tone that his dad called the ' _I am a Dark Council member and I will electrocute you if you keep talking_ ' tone of voice. "And I'm failing."

"Imperius," Arkous started to say with what could only be described as a patronizing tone of voice, "I really don't-"

"My lord!" Lana suddenly cried out, her eyes widening in alarm. "We have reports of a Republic attack on Korriban. They've taken the Academy."

Reanden jolted out of his seat faster than a man his age should have been able to move, eyes wide with shock and mouth falling open in a way that Imperial Agents weren't supposed to do.

" _What?!_ " Sorand and Arkous shouted in the same breath. Sorand followed that by wheeling away from the holoterminal and barging to the cockpit of the shuttle, leaving his father to finish the conversation with Arkous. "Set for course for Korriban, captain," he barked at the shuttle pilot, who was staring in shock at the new intel being streamed to her console from the Sith homeworld. "Transmit coordinates and directions to the rest of the strike force- _now!_ "

* * *

"Welcome back," Agent Shan called over with a grin as Xaja and Korin strolled back into the planning room on Carrick Station, still dusty and weary looking, but satisfied with the results of their mission.

"We've got our link established with the Dark Council chambers, killed one of the Dark Council members themselves, and you even liberated yourselves a few slaves and conscripted Acolytes," Colonel Darok said as he came around the holo table to salute Xaja and clap Korin's shoulder with a meaty hand, making the spacer grunt. "I'd call that a nice bonus to an entirely successful mission."

"It's nice reminding the Sith that they're not half as immortal as they think they are," Xaja said, letting a polite smile drift over her face. "Now they can start feeling as we did after the Sacking."

"Indeed- although you couldn't have possibly been involved in that-?"

"Seven year old resident of the Temple at the time."

Darok blinked, then looked over at Shan with a triumphant laugh. "Ha! Told you she's your age! It's perfect!"

Shan gave Darok what could be best described as a mutinous glare, then made eye contact with Xaja and mouthed ' _Sorry!_ ' at her.

"Wait, what?" Korin looked back and forth between Xaja, Shan, and Darok for a minute, then burst out laughing. Over the flight home, the siblings had agreed to keep their kinship hidden for the time being, and now Korin was going to use that opportunity to poke fun. "Good luck with her, Agent. Good looker an' all, but got a temper an' walks an' acts like she's got durasteel up her- OW!"

Xaja looked at the datapad that had mysteriously flown from the table to make contact with her brother's shoulder and blinked innocently. "The Force works in mysterious ways, does it not, Captain?" she asked, as sweetly and serenely as a Jedi could.

Shan snorted in stifled amusement and went back to data analysis.

"On to serious matters," Darok said, still smirking a bit, "with the data you've pulled from Korriban, we'll be able to better analyze the Empire's movements, start getting a step ahead of the Sith instead of always playing catch up and-"

Sirens blazed, and Shan's face went white as he ran back to a terminal, frantically typing. "No, no, no! Not already!"

"What's going on?" Xaja snapped, going back into Jedi commander-mode.

"They've launched a retaliatory attack on Tython. The Temple's burning!"

 _The Temple's burning. The Temple's burning._ For a second, Xaja was seven years old again and watching Coruscant fall, the Temple a burning ruin somewhere behind her as she'd fled into the Works, leaving hundreds of dead Jedi behind her and losing her world to flame and red blades and- _no. Not this again. Never again!_ "Captain, with me!" she shouted as she turned and raced out of the briefing room, Korin hot on her tail as they raced back to their shuttle, leaving Darok giving refuelling and redeployment orders to their strike squadron. _How the hell could the Empire have reacted so fast?_

 _Unless they were on Tython while we were attacking Korriban… but how is that possible?_

* * *

 **Updates coming sometime soonish.**


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